🇧🇷 Santa Maria is a municipality in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil. Santa Maria is the 5th biggest municipality in the state, and the largest in its micro-region. Santa Maria is often referred to as the "heart of Rio Grande" ("Coração do Rio Grande"), because the city is located in the geographical centre of the State.
1History The first inhabitants of Santa Maria were the Minuano Indigenous People, who lived in a region of the municipality known as Coxilha do Pau Fincado, and the Tapes, who lived in the hills.
With the arrival of Spanish and Portuguese colonizers this border region was witness to innumerable battles between rival groups. Finally, in 1797 the border between the two colonies was established by a commission (1ª Subdivisão da Comissão Demarcadora de Limites da América dat lit Meridional). This commission set up camp on the site of present-day Santa Maria.
The camp was known as Acampamento de Santa Maria, later adding Boca do Monte to the name. 1828 saw the arrival of the 28th Battalion of Foreigners, made up of hired Germans to fight against the inhabitants of present-day Uruguay in the Cisplatine War. After the war many of the soldiers decided to stay in Santa Maria, beginning the cycle of German colonization. In 1857, Santa Maria was separated from Cachoeira do Sul and elevated to town (vila) status. The municipality was created on 16 December 1857 and installed on 17 May 1858.
Since 1910, the city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Maria, and annually hosts an important Roman Catholic festival dedicated to Nossa Senhora Medianeira, called "Romaria da Medianeira" (Medianeira or Mediatrix is a name of Our Lady that was created in Venice, Italy). Every year, hundreds of thousands of people from all over Brazil join in the celebrations.
Due to its strategic geographical location, Santa Maria has a large military force, including the Santa Maria Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force, which houses four units, and the 3rd Army Division of the Southern Military Command. In 2011, the German defence company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG (KMW) closed a deal to renovate old tanks and produce new ones for the Brazilian Army, opening a factory in Santa Maria. This earned the city its new nickname, "Armoured Capital" (from Portuguese: Capital dos Blindados).
On 27 January 2013, a fire broke out in the ''Kiss" nightclub during a band performance, due to misuse of pyrotechnics, which got in direct contact with the acoustic foam used in the club. In total, 242 people died due to suffocation or trampling while trying to escape, or of complication in days and months following the event. It has been reported that as many as 1,500 people were in the nightclub when the fire broke out.
1Population Santa Maria is the fifth largest city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, after Porto Alegre, Caxias do Sul, Pelotas, and Canoas. Many of the city's inhabitants are of German and Italian ancestries.
It is the largest city in the central region of the state, concentrating 36.40% of this region's population. During the period between 2000 and 2010, Santa Maria had a demographic growth rate of 6.00%.
The municipality contains 10 districts. The city of Santa Maria itself is located in the urban Seat District (Distrito Sede), which is divided into 8 regiões administrativas (administrative regions), and further subdivided into 40 bairros (neighbourhoods). About 95% of the municipality's total population is concentrated in the Seat District. One of the districts is Palma.
1Economy The economy is based on services, industry, government services, and agriculture. In 2006, there were 934 transformation industries employing 6,344 workers. Commerce employed 12,180 workers, public administration employed 4,783 workers, the health sector employed 3,799 workers, and education employed 6,362 workers. In the agricultural sector, there were 2,335 establishments employing 7,000 workers. The main activities are cattle raising with over 100,000 head in 2006, and growth of rice, corn, soybean, and wheat.
1Transportation Santa Maria is a major highway and railroad hub. The city has a strategic location in connecting Brazil to other Mercosul countries, mainly through the following highways:
BR-158 – connects Santa Maria to northern and south-western Rio Grande do Sul, allowing access to Uruguaiana, in the Argentine border, and to Rivera, Uruguay.
BR-287 – east-west highway, connecting the city to the capital of the state, Porto Alegre.
Railways are used for cargo transportation, mainly of agricultural products, automobile parts and food.
Santa Maria is 110 km (68 mi) away from the River Terminal of Cachoeira do Sul, which allows ship transport until the port of Porto Alegre through the Jacuí River, and from there to the Atlantic Ocean, through the Lagoa dos Patos.
Santa Maria Airport is located 12 km (7.5 mi) away from downtown, in the neighbourhood of Camobi. It has capacity for large airplanes and offers daily flights to Porto Alegre, Santo Ângelo and Uruguaiana. Santa Maria Air Force Base - ALA4, one of their most important bases of the Brazilian Air Force, is located in Santa Maria and shares some facilities with the airport.
1Distances • Santa Maria—Porto Alegre: 286 km (178 mi). • Santa Maria—Pelotas: 337 km (209 mi). • Santa Maria—Cruz Alta: 135 km (84 mi). • Santa Maria—Uruguaiana: 365 km (227 mi). • Santa Maria—Passo Fundo: 293 km (182 mi). • Santa Maria—Caxias do Sul: 307 km (191 mi).
1Education A popular nickname for Santa Maria is "University City" (Portuguese: "Cidade Universitária") or "Culture city" (Portuguese: "Cidade Cultura"), due to its large student population. The largest university, the Federal University of Santa Maria, was founded in 1960 by José Mariano da Rocha Filho; while the private university centre Universidade Franciscana was founded in 1951. The city also has a number of other smaller private colleges, such as the Methodist University of Santa Maria (FAMES).
1Sport Santa Maria has two football teams, Inter-SM and Riograndense-SM, one American football team, the Santa Maria Soldiers and one Rugby team, the Universitario Rugby.
1Santa Maria has a population of over 283,677 people. Santa Maria also forms part of the wider Rio Grande do Sul State which has a population of over 11,422,973 people.
To set up a UBI Lab for Santa Maria see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork
🇧🇷 Montenegro -29.683
🇧🇷 Santa Cruz do Sul -29.714
🇧🇷 Uruguaiana -29.772
🇧🇷 São Leopoldo -29.772
🇿🇦 Hammarsdale -29.817
🇿🇦 Mpumalanga -29.817
🇧🇷 Sapucaia do Sul -29.842
🇧🇷 São Miguel do Oeste -53.508
🇧🇷 Caçapava do Sul -53.483
🇧🇷 Nova Andradina -53.348
🇨🇦 St. John's -52.712
🇫🇷 Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni -54.031
🇬🇫 Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni -54.031
🇧🇷 Santo Ângelo -54.25
🇧🇷 Primavera do Leste -54.333
🇵🇾 Salto del Guairá -54.333
🇧🇷 Foz do Iguaçu -54.456
🇦🇷 Puerto Iguazú -54.576
Locations Near: Santa Maria -53.8,-29.6833
🇧🇷 Caçapava do Sul -53.483,-30.5 d: 95.8
🇧🇷 Cruz Alta -53.6,-28.633 d: 118.4
🇧🇷 Santa Cruz do Sul -52.429,-29.714 d: 132.5
🇧🇷 Santo Ângelo -54.25,-28.283 d: 161.7
🇧🇷 Bagé -54.107,-31.328 d: 185.3
🇧🇷 Carazinho -52.783,-28.283 d: 184.4
🇧🇷 Lajeado -51.95,-29.467 d: 180.5
🇧🇷 Passo Fundo -52.409,-28.261 d: 208.1
🇧🇷 Bento Gonçalves -51.519,-29.174 d: 228.1
🇧🇷 Montenegro -51.45,-29.683 d: 227
Antipodal to: Santa Maria 126.2,29.683
🇯🇵 Amami 129.483,28.367 d: 19663.9
🇯🇵 Nago 127.978,26.592 d: 19629.7
🇰🇷 Seogwipo 126.561,33.253 d: 19616.7
🇯🇵 Okinawa 127.809,26.409 d: 19618.2
🇯🇵 Okinawa City 127.793,26.343 d: 19612.1
🇯🇵 Uruma 127.85,26.367 d: 19612.3
🇰🇷 Jeju Island 126.53,33.38 d: 19602.8
🇰🇷 Jeju 126.556,33.38 d: 19602.7